Surgeon hid error that led to transplant infections

A SURGEON failed to disclose that he had spilled the contents of a donor’s stomach while removing organs that were then used in NHS transplants.

The incident happened in Wales and involved a surgeon from Oxford University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

A lead surgeon accidentally cut the donor stomach but did not tell officials as he should have done, and the incident was not recorded at the time.

Several organs became infected with Candida albicans, a type of fungal infection, and were then transplanted into three patients.

A 36-year-old recipient died of an aneurysm caused directly by infection from the donated liver. A second patient, a 25-year-old parent with children, became life-threateningly ill and needed their transplanted kidney removed.

A third, aged 44, who received a combined kidney and pancreas transplant, fell ill but subsequently recovered.

The incident only came to light after surgeons at Cardiff & Vale University Health Board raised the alarm with the Human Tissue Authority and the Welsh Government.

They became worried when the 25-year-old patient who received the kidney, and who was under their care at the University Hospital of Wales, became seriously unwell due to the infected organ.

The patient, who does not wish to be named, needed the donor kidney removing as an emergency after suffering extreme pain and extensive internal bleeding.

The patient was put in an induced coma and needed 16 blood transfusions. The patient also ended up on dialysis for more than a year, despite not having needed it previously. The NHS has since agreed damages of more than £215,000, after the 25-yearold took legal action against the Oxford NHS Trust.